EASY! Overnight, No Knead Yeast Bread

Smart friends who give me great, easy, healthy recipes are my favorite kind of friends. As are my friends who give me chocolate. Or jars. Or hugs. Or the friends who listen to my constant and sometimes nonsensical chatter. And the ones who put up with my unreasonable freak-out moments of stress. And the ones who pray with me. And the ones who deal with me during soccer season when I can’t finish sentences.

Let me just pause and wipe a tear. I really have the best friends ever…

Well now. (stops to loudly blow nose and gain composure) I really brought all that up to say that one of my great friends, Nikki, shared this recipe with me. She’s one of my smart friends who I believe has done all of the above and then some (God bless her).

Once when I was at her house, she let me try some of the bread she had made that morning. It was great! And then she started telling me how she made it. How you don’t have to knead it. How you start it the night before and how it takes about three minutes to mix up. I think I grabbed her neck, hugged her fiercely, and knocked her over when she handed me the recipe. Not really. I truly can control myself. Usually. But hey, there was a great recipe involved, so no guarantees. See, I told you my friends are great to put up with me.

Note: You need a covered dish to bake this bread. I found a deep-dish casserole dish with a lid that worked for me, similar to this one. But if I can save up and splurge on this one, would that not be the coolest?

Stir ingredients together in the evening. (No need to proof the yeast.) Cover and allow dough to sit over-night on the countertop. In the morning, dump the dough onto a well floured surface. Shape it into a ball. Let it sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450°, heating the baking dish in the oven at the same time. Place the dough in the hot baking dish. Cover and bake for 30-40 minutes.

When you mix it and cover it in the evening, it starts out looking like this:

In the morning it will look like this:

After you bake it, it will look like this:

And when you slice it it will look like this:

Once you serve it, it will look like this:

(There’s no picture. The bread is gone. Obviously.)

I highly recommend that you give this recipe a try, and that you consider serving it with this wonderful Calico Beans dish. It’s a wonderful combo!

I made my first loaf today and I love how super easy it is! Question, when I take it out of the oven should I cool it on a rack? Also, when I put it on the floured surface this morning, before I baked it, I was afraid of overworking it trying to get it into a ball..I tried getting it into a ball shape and then it would just kinda spread out from there…hope that makes sense, so it didn’t stay in a ball shape. I’m wondering if I should have mixed it more the night before….?

When I took mine out of the oven I did put it on a cooling rack. I also rubbed butter on it to soften the crust. I did not work mine much. I split it in two, put it on the floured surface, rolled it a few times, then put them in their baking dishes. This way they were the perfect zsize for bread bowls for soup. If yours did not stay in the ball you needed to add more flour.

Thank you so much, I will try with more flour next time! It was a big hit here! The flavor is wonderful and with the process being so easy I could see myself making it a couple times a week! Thanks for sharing.

I don’t think you need to change anything about the mixing. It is just kinda funny to shape into a ball when it really just wants to flop around. :) Just work very lightly on the counter (about 20 seconds) then let it take on the shape of your baking pan. I don’t cool mine on a wire rack – I typically just put it on the stovetop, but you sure can put it on a wire rack if you want.

My first loaf is in the oven, but I’m a little concerned it won’t turn out… the 30 minute “Resting” on the counter didn’t make the dough rise at all. I’ve never had bread rise more in the oven and I’m thinking this is going to come out like a dense brick :( I’ll let you know, but is it supposed to do a full rise again after you shape it?

No, it doesn’t rise much after you shape it, but I try not to over work it when I’m shaping it so it keeps some of its “puff”. Mine usually comes out more dense than a regular loaf of bread. Hope yours turned out okay!

Well, it didn’t rise much, like you said, but it was still very nice! I have the sassafras oblong baker so it made a nice “french bread” looking loaf, although kind of short. The bread is nice and chewy, like a sourdough. Thanks so much for sharing this! With regular bread rising time I could never have fresh baked bread for breakfast, but with this method, I could have it every morning!

I am sorry to ask this question that it may be obvious to everybody. But I am not sure if I am understanding this correctly. When you say to put the dough in the hot baking dish and cover. Do you mean the same baking dish used for he overnight? Or it could be any other baking container or sheet? Thank you in advance, for any imput.

Thanks for this great recipe! We tried this morning and everybody loved it, especially my husband and asked me to make it again. So simple, a few ingredients and even my kids can help. Thanks a lot Laura, you really inspire me!

My own personal tastes….I don’t love the bread. It’s a bit too chewy for me and the crust is quite crisp. I like my bread a bit softer on the outside. I think this would be great for bread bowls or for sopping something or another, but not for just eating (for our fam anyway:)

I was wondering how long this bread needs to sit before its baked? I am asking because I want to bake it and eat it hot for dinner. So, could I make it early morning so that I can bake it right before dinner? And if so, how early would I need to mix I t if we wanted to eat it at 6:00 pm? Thanks for the help?

Has anyone broke any dishes making this? I did small loaf in spelt and 1 regular loaf in wheat and white. When I took the spelt loaf out and set the small casserole dish on top of the stove it shattered. Maybe my kitchen was too cool or maybe the glass wasn’t tempered enough. Anyways the bread was great :)

sorry about your dish! i am curious if you adjusted the recipe at all w/ your spelt loaf; spelt is my flour of choice, although i haven’t used it a lot yet, but i know substituting it doesn’t always work really well.

I may have added a little extra spelt flour but usually I just sub it 1 for 1. Also I have learned with spelt that its good to add the reccommended amount of flour and let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes to let the liquid absorb the flour.

Thank you for sharing this recipe! I gave it a try and improvised lid onto a dish. I had my doubts that it would turn out well but when it was done it looked beautiful and artisan and tasted lovely. Thank you for sharing.

Homemade infused oils can allow development of botulism; garlic and herbs naturally have botulism on them. Use infused oil within a day or so of making. Refrigeration and/or salt do NOT retard the development of botulism. The FDA says only commercially made infused oils are to be trusted, because it is so difficult to everything right and ensure botulism does not develop. There’s a lot of easily available info. on the internet about this; for example, see http://theolivepress.com/news-blog/be-aware-of-the-risks-of-botulism-with-homemade-garlic-infused-oil

Acids can retard botulism, but since acids & oil won’t easily mix together, that won’t help with homemade infused oils. (You add acid when canning tomatoes because today’s tomatoes are less acidic than in the past. “Doctoring” safe recipes for things like salsa can end up decreasing the required acid, and you end up risking development of botulism.

I’ve been wanting to make this for months, but I don’t have a covered dish. Tonight I was determined I would find a way, and I am going to try it in a Pyrex mixing bowl (oven safe according to their website), improvising with a Pyrex pie dish for a lid. Wish me luck! :P

Wanted to tell you I ended up going for it the other day! It turned out beautiful in the Cast Iron. I used a deep one and a smaller one for a lid. Greased it in a little lard and sprinkled cornmeal on the bottom. I did take it out once and tap on the bottom and decided it was not done enough and put it back in for a few mins. but it turned out great!

I made this bread and it was very dense in the middle. So I baked it for another 15 min. It didn’t improve on the texture. I did not warm the water before pouring it into the flour mixture, because it wasn’t stated in the recipe. I also used sprouted white wheat flour. Could that have been the reason my bread didn’t turn out? Thanks. Maybe I’ll try it again.

this looks amazing! i can’t wait to make it! i currently am making our bread (6 loaves) & freeze the extra, which keeps us in bread for a few wks. however, during busier seasons w/ farming, sometimes i cave & buy bread (gasp!) due to lack of time. that’s not happening anytime soon now! =) thanks for making my day…literally!

I bake this in a loaf pan and cover loosely with foil. It creates the same effect as a lid and gives a better shape for sandwiches. I also store it wrapped in plastic wrap or in a baggie while it is still a little warm to help soften the crust just enough for easier slicing.

You can also substitute the plain water with water you have boiled potatoes in for a potato bread. Tastes very good as well.

Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Made it last night at around 11:30PM
Baked this this morning around 9
Baked up perfectly.
I used the kitchen aid mixer and my dough was pretty wet and airy. and put a tsp of olive oil in before dropping the dough. I was worried that it would stick. Just seemed counterintuitive to not grease the pan but I am sure it would likely have worked just as well without it.
I used my LeCruset Dutch oven
So I was worried but, it cooked up perfect!
Kids ate with cream cheese and me with real butter!
Thanks for sharing. Nothing like a good recipe that turns out just right the very first time!
God bless.

I just made it and it wasn’t bad. I probably worked it too much as it was somewhat dense. I want to mention that I have never made bread! I’m in the middle of reading Michael Pollan’s “Cooked” -chapter 3 (“Air”) talks all about bread, and the info. on commercial baking was enough to get me surfing the internet. I’m really interested in doing sour dough (which is a better approach if you want various nutrients to remain in the bread or become accessible).

I don’t have a grain mill but thought I’d go in baby steps and when I came across this recipe, it seemed the place to start. I used Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat – it came out fine, although other kinds of wheat (especially if you have a grain mill) probably would be better. I’ll be trying again!

I summarized the comments at the bottom of the document I made for this recipe (I overworked the dough because I hadn’t read the comment!). I thought I’d share:

Water should be warm but not hot (don’t want to kill yeast)
Covered dish size should be at least 2 quarts
Can grease the baking dish but don’t have to
Doesn’t rise much in the 30 min resting period
Don’t overwork it when you’re shaping it – you want it to keep the air that it has in the dough. 20 sec of working.
Can substitute spelt flour 1 to 1. With spelt, add the recommended amount of flour & let the mixture site for 15 min to let the liquid absorb the flour.
Can use regular loaf pans (2); can tent loosely with aluminum foil (but others have reported success without cover)
Good for pizza dough

If possible, could you explain how you soak spelt flour for this recipe? Do you mix the (warm) water + spelt flour for the recipe together with 1.5 T acid (buttermilk/whey/plain (cultured) yogurt/lemon juice), and let it soak for 7-24 hours (and as I understand, longer (up to 24 hours) is better)? Then do you mix in the yeast & let it sit for another 24 hours, then shape it and let it sit another 30 minutes? I’ve never done this soaked grain thing, but wanted to try this with spelt flour, and in another comment, someone mentions soaking spelt flour makes for better results. Are there any adjustments necessary for this recipe? Thanks again! I’m still eating my first loaf made with Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat – as I said before, it was heavy but edible. Perhaps soaking that flour would have helped!

i have made this several times and it turned out great! I used the white whole wheat flour. Recently I made this in a loaf shape with half unbleached flour and half white wheat. I buttered the pan and cooked it at 425 for 15 minutes and then reduced the heat to 375. The bread came out great. It made a nice loaf for slicing for sandwiches etc. my hubby loves it and so do I! I haven’t been brave enough to
make bread with kneading etc. maybe that is on my future:) at least I have found a way to have healthier bread. Thank you for all your recipes!